VA Medical Center - Spinal Cord Tower

QPK Design is the architect of record and provided design development through contract administration services for the Spinal Cord Injury Tower addition to the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The 6 story addition includes a 30 bed inpatient spinal cord injury/disease unit with associated treatment, rehabilitation and daily living training areas, a therapy pool, and vertical transport with direct departmental connection to the existing parking garage. The addition also includes areas for Endoscopy/GI/UGI, Infusion, Dialysis, Phlebotomy, Central Sterilization and Same Day Surgery. One floor is dedicated to a new 7 room operating suite that includes 4 general O.R.’s, Cystoscopy, Ocular surgery and a Vascular O.R. which contains a Siemens Artis Zee ceiling imaging unit and dual multi monitor image.

The fourth floor renovation includes SCI outpatient services such as physical therapy, hydrotherapy, urodynamics, daily living training, exam rooms and physician’s offices. The remainder of the floor houses prosthetics, respiratory therapy, sleep labs and dept. of surgery offices. As part of the renovation the ground floor canteen was expanded to add staff dining, update parts of the kitchen and increase administration and storage space.

The project scope also included a $10.8M, two-level vertical expansion to the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s existing parking garage. Construction included improvements to the foundation and columns, introduction of shear walls, and extension of stairs and elevators. The parking garage expansion added 480 spaces.

Challenges and Solutions

The new tower was constructed directly adjacent to the South and West wings of the existing building which contain the medical center’s surgical suite as well as patient rooms, team red space, phlebotomy, pharmacy and other departments that had to remain operational without interruption during the construction process. Together the facility and design team developed a plan to mitigate disruption of these operations that included:

Disruptive construction activities within 30’ of the existing building, such as a laundry wing demolition, mini-pile installation and removal of pavement, were limited to off hours

Use of drilled caisson foundation system where possible,

Complete structural separation of new tower from existing building,

Construction of window infills as part of first phase and only allowed a few at a time

The existing minimal floor to floor height was matched between the ground and first floors, creating a very tight ceiling space on this floor of the addition. The contractor elected to use BIM to produce coordination drawings. This initiated a series of collaborative meetings that included facilities staff, the resident engineer, design team members, contractor and sub-contractors, resulting in potential conflicts being resolved in cyberspace, not real space.

A requirement to construct a full scale mockup of the SCI patient room was included in the construction documents. It was built on the stage of the existing building’s theater. QPK coordinated the effort to review and modify the design based on the input of not only all of the stakeholders at the medical center, the design team, and the contractors, but also representatives from the national VA OCFM and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Designs for the renovation of the fourth floor were carefully planned to minimize the relocation of plumbing risers to minimize the disruption to services located on the other 8 floors above and below the renovation level.

VA Medical Center - Spinal Cord Tower

QPK Design is the architect of record and provided design development through contract administration services for the Spinal Cord Injury Tower addition to the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The 6 story addition includes a 30 bed inpatient spinal cord injury/disease unit with associated treatment, rehabilitation and daily living training areas, a therapy pool, and vertical transport with direct departmental connection to the existing parking garage. The addition also includes areas for Endoscopy/GI/UGI, Infusion, Dialysis, Phlebotomy, Central Sterilization and Same Day Surgery. One floor is dedicated to a new 7 room operating suite that includes 4 general O.R.’s, Cystoscopy, Ocular surgery and a Vascular O.R. which contains a Siemens Artis Zee ceiling imaging unit and dual multi monitor image.

The fourth floor renovation includes SCI outpatient services such as physical therapy, hydrotherapy, urodynamics, daily living training, exam rooms and physician’s offices. The remainder of the floor houses prosthetics, respiratory therapy, sleep labs and dept. of surgery offices. As part of the renovation the ground floor canteen was expanded to add staff dining, update parts of the kitchen and increase administration and storage space.

The project scope also included a $10.8M, two-level vertical expansion to the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s existing parking garage. Construction included improvements to the foundation and columns, introduction of shear walls, and extension of stairs and elevators. The parking garage expansion added 480 spaces.

Challenges and Solutions

The new tower was constructed directly adjacent to the South and West wings of the existing building which contain the medical center’s surgical suite as well as patient rooms, team red space, phlebotomy, pharmacy and other departments that had to remain operational without interruption during the construction process. Together the facility and design team developed a plan to mitigate disruption of these operations that included:

Disruptive construction activities within 30’ of the existing building, such as a laundry wing demolition, mini-pile installation and removal of pavement, were limited to off hours

Use of drilled caisson foundation system where possible,

Complete structural separation of new tower from existing building,

Construction of window infills as part of first phase and only allowed a few at a time

The existing minimal floor to floor height was matched between the ground and first floors, creating a very tight ceiling space on this floor of the addition. The contractor elected to use BIM to produce coordination drawings. This initiated a series of collaborative meetings that included facilities staff, the resident engineer, design team members, contractor and sub-contractors, resulting in potential conflicts being resolved in cyberspace, not real space.

A requirement to construct a full scale mockup of the SCI patient room was included in the construction documents. It was built on the stage of the existing building’s theater. QPK coordinated the effort to review and modify the design based on the input of not only all of the stakeholders at the medical center, the design team, and the contractors, but also representatives from the national VA OCFM and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Designs for the renovation of the fourth floor were carefully planned to minimize the relocation of plumbing risers to minimize the disruption to services located on the other 8 floors above and below the renovation level.